Little Language Learners 0 - 3 years

Learning to talk is an important, exciting and fun part of development that begins right after birth. Young children need to hear others talking so they can learn and understand the sounds, words and rules of language. Parents are the best language or ‘talking teachers’ for their children.

Here are some suggestions on how to stimulate your toddlers language development:

Talk with your child about the things you see, hear, smell and touch during daily routines such as dinner & bath time, dressing, cooking, car and play time

Have fun with nursery rhymes and songs, especially those with actions

Follow your child’s lead and talk about things that interest them

Use short, simple sentences when talking with your child

Give your child time to talk, and listen to them carefully

Gain attention when giving an instruction: call their name and encourage eye contact

Guide your child to listen to different sounds: animals, aeroplanes, household noises

Model new words by adding to what your child says. For example C: ‘That’s my car’ A: ‘Yes, that’s your shiny, black car, it goes so fast’. Don't forget to use a variety of words: object names, action words, describing words,place words......

Expand incomplete sentences. C: ‘go preschool now’ A: ‘yes, we’re going to preschool today. We’re going in the car’

HomemadeToys That Encourage Language

• stacking cups: different sized/coloured plastic containers promotes understanding and comparing of size/shape/colour.

• sound makers: put either sand, rice or pebbles in an empty container such a drink bottle and secure the lid with tape. Make a bunch and create a family band! Playing with musical instruments together promotes listening to and experimenting with loud/soft/fast/slow sounds.

• magic scarf box: join 10 or more hankies of varying colours and patterns together. Place inside a tissue box and pull out.

• smooth or textured play dough: add sand, rice or glitter to home made playough. Wonderful for fine motor skills as well as exposure to many action words: 'push, pull, squish, cut, squash, drop, pinch…'not to mention all the names for the playdough shape cutters you use. For an easy, non cook play dough receipe click here

• dress up box: with old clothes and accessories - create a family theatre! Encourages pretend and cooperative play.

• pretend shop: sort tins, boxes and produce into groups - encourages categorising and role playing as well as turn taking.

• tea party: promotes the use and understanding of pronouns ‘mine, yours, I, you, we, hers, his’, and prepositions ‘in, on, under, out, beside, on top, between’

• Make reading books together a regular routine.

General Stages of Language Development

Up to 12 Months

cooing sounds like ‘ooh, aah’

babble begins: ‘baba/gaga’

first words around 12 months

turns in response to own name

understands simple concepts such as “where’s daddy?” at around 9 months

One Year Old

starts imitating real words

uses words for common things

uses 1 word for many meanings understands simple commands

knows basic body parts

points to named objects

Two Year Old

begins joining 2 words together

vocabulary of 25 to 50 words

speech not always easy to understand follows directions with ‘in’ & ‘on’ and simple ‘where’ questions understands more than what they say

Three Year Old

vocabulary of around 50 to 200+ words

grammar continues to emerge: ‘ing’, ‘in/on/under’, ‘I, me, it, you’, plural ’s’. can tell a simple story

understands longer commands

understands basic concepts like ‘big/little, same/different’

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